Rem 1148 refurbishment begins...

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Milkmaster

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Today I set a path forward to restore a 1958 vintage Remington model 1148 in .410. The wood is off and will go through a strip and refinish. Disassembly is also in progress to let the parts soak in preparation for some scrubbing. All went well except for not being able to remove the charging handle. I am assuming it comes out by pulling it, but I was unsuccessful. I will not force it and cause a worse problem. I am hopeful a gunsmith friend of mine can help me tomorrow. Maybe he can show me a trick from experience to get that charging handle out without damaging the gun. I have attached some pics. Stay tuned...
 

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I have a 12ga barrel for that model gun. If you know anyone looking for one please send them my way!

Good luck with the resto. I'm interested to see how it turns out!
 
I too am looking forward to your progress with the
restoration process.
You've taken some nice close-up photos as well.
Thanks in advance and good luck.

SS
 
Difficulties right off the bat....I have been working two days soaking and even heating the charging handle a bit trying to remove it from the 1148. Nothing I have found in the manual or by asking older knowledgeable folks suggests anything special to remove the charging handle. It is supposed to pull straight out best I can tell. So far no luck. I do not want to cut it off until I find out if it is the same charging handle as say an 1100 or 870. A trip to a good gunsmith may be coming up soon unless my luck changes.
 
I used to have a 11-48 I had the opposite problem the handle fell out all the time I finally drilled a hole thru it and put a lanyard on it & tied it to the trigger guard. It pulled out had a detent ball if I remember correctly. I'd spray it down with oil, let it soak and give it another try.
 
Are you trying to remove the bolt handle with the bolt locked open?

I believe it comes out with the barrel removed, and eased bolt foreword all the way.

rc
 
I am trying it any and every way possible. I have been soaking it for several days. I have pulled, heated it slightly, tapped on it, backwards, forwards, and standing on one foot. Still no luck. The manual says to wiggle it and pull it straight out. I think maybe the detent ball could be corroded, but I can't see it. I would cut off the handle and remove the bolt if I knew I could find another one. Then I could get to the other side of the bolt and probably see what the problem is. I am not cutting anything yet. I have a good gunsmith I want to see it before I do anything rash. He has been sick and will not be able to look for a time.
 
See if numrich has the part you need. gunpartscorp.com if I'm not mistaken, but google will tell you for sure.
 
http://stevespages.com/pdf/remington_1148.pdf

This might help you?

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Remington 11-48 Semi-Auto Shotguns


Model 11-48: This model was the first of the "New Generation" semi-auto shotgun produced after the war & is considered a recoil operated firearm.
It's model number was derived from the older model 11 that the recoil system was copied from & the newer stamped out internal parts that have become so popular since, developed in 1948, but not introduced until 1949. It was discontinued in 1968. It was made in 2 3/4" 12, 16, 20, 28 ga, & 3" 410. The walnut stocks were machine checkered. There was no engraving on the receiver. It utilized many stamped out sheet-metal parts, & an aluminum trigger housing that became common to most all of the Remington line of pumps & semi-autos that allowed easy removal by pushing out 2 pins that are spring detented to hold them in place. It 's magazine held 4 or 5 rounds.
Remington 11-48
The receiver was machined from a solid billet of steel. The magazine tube & action spring tube were silver-soldered into the receiver.
This firearm functions by using 2 opposing springs. One small diameter, but strong spring is housed in a approx 1/2" tube that is silver soldered into the rear of the receiver & protrudes into the buttstock. The rear external portion is threaded that then is utilized to hold the buttstock onto the receiver with. Inside this tube the spring has a follower fitted to the front & 2 heavy sheet-metal links pinned from the breech bolt drive the follower rearward & subsequently back forward to close the action.
At the same time there is a large coil spring around the magazine tube that puts friction against bronze plated steel friction rings on the front that are pinched in the barrel hanger bracket on firing & subsequent recoil. This recoil spring is made in different compression strengths & is critical to the actual power of the round used in the gun. It is critical that the magazine tube be lightly sanded lengthwise with light emery cloth & a light coating of oil of about 30 weight motor oil on this tube for the gun to function properly
Also any recoil operated firearm can be very sensitive to how the person firing it holds the gun. The word is that you have to "Back it Up". This means that you need to hold it tight against your shoulder. A skinny 110# weakling will have trouble with the gun not cycling, while a 250# logger may well have no trouble at all. The guns have to have some resistance to function properly.
One of the Remington service personnel said that this gun never really worked when it was new & that he was glad that he came onto the scene right after it was discontinued as the factory repairmen could always count on something to do when they showed up for work. He said that they could get it to function with one brand of ammo & another brand would malfunction.
I used one for a good number of years & never really had a problem, even with reloads.

Gunsmithing the11-48: Spare parts are not available from Remington if you order from the 11-48 list. However the firing pins, FP springs, extractor, spring & plunger for the 870 will interchange. The 11-48 operating handle is held in by a detent plunger putting pressure on the bottom of this handle. The current model 1100 handle #91197 is designed to accommodate both the 11-48 bottom plunger & the 1100 plunger which comes in from the rear. Therefore you can use the 1100 handle on the 11-48 series guns.
The friction piece & shell latch are usually the first to need replacement. Recently Gun Parts Corp. has listed these friction pieces in their catalog.

When this gun starts spitting operating handles, the usual things to look for will be a weak detent plunger spring. These detent plungers are however factory staked into the bottom of the bolt slide & not really designed to be replaced.

I had one customer bring a gun in with a hole drilled in the outer end of the handle & a piece of fish line tied into it & on to the trigger guard, so that he could recover the handle when the gun spit it out.

In all actuality the handle is only needed to charge a live round into the chamber or to extract a live round. It does not effect the firing of the gun.

On the above gun, after much trial & error, then some head scratching, I finally, many years ago (about 1975) called the factory & was fortunate enough to be able to talk to a repairman that worked on these guns at the time they were being factory serviced. The real problem is that there is too much headspace. A harmonic vibration is set up at the firing/unlock time that results in spitting these handles out like popcorn.

Look at the locking lugs on the barrel & on the locking block. These will usually be worn & or set back This repairman said the method of deciding if this was the problem, was with the gun unloaded, place a ½" dowel down the barrel until it rests on the face of the breech bolt, mark on the dowel the muzzle location with a pencil. Now push the dowel down until you feel the locking block unlock from the barrel lugs, but before the bolt starts to move rearward. Mark this position on the dowel.

Ideally there should be minimal movement. I do not really remember his exact dimension, but it seems that if it moved more than about .040", this was the problem, and the symptoms get worse as the wear increases. The solution that they used then, was to replace the locking lug with a oversize one. These lugs were numbered using letters, I have encountered many with just the ga. stamped on them, & a few with letters. I assume the non lettered are standard & the A size to be the next oversize or longer. Not sure how many oversize sizes were made

Since no spare parts were available from the factory or any of the parts suppliers even then, I cleaned the barrel lugs up & then annealed the locking block, TIG welded 3% nickel material onto the back of the locking block lug. I figured that if I screwed up that maybe I could find another locking block, but to find a barrel extension would take time & perseverance. I then refitted it, using lay-out die as a wear marker, and then heat treated & tempered the whole block. If anyone would try this I recommend you take a Rockwell hardness reading of the locking block before you start, so that you have a known hardness to return to (mine read 53 Rockwell C). It could be slightly softer by a point or two, but not any harder, since it would break off.

I however think a simpler solution would be to soft solder a piece of steel shim stock to the bolt face. In order to determine the proper thickness, a piece of different thickness shim stock cold be cut to the approximate shape of the bolt face & tried under a loaded round until one too thick was placed there so that the locking block would not close. Then back off & use a thinner one. You might even Super Glue a shim onto the bolt face as a trial to see if it would work first.
Heating it to a soft solder condition would create no problem since the breech bolt only is a means of holding the locking block. To do this tin the bolt face and the steel shim with solder. Then heat them up & place the shim on the bolt. After it cools you can cut the shim off with a sharp knife or a Dremel tool. You would of course have to have enough clearance for the extractor to hook the shell's rim.
Model 48 Sportsman: The 48 Sportsman was the same gun except it was made so that it would only accept 2 rounds in the magazine, conforming to the Federal Migratory bird regulations. It was introduced in 1949 & discontinued in 1959.
This magazine restriction was made possible by simply taking a 11-48 magazine tube & stamping 3 detent dimples around it thereby restricting the follower from going beyond this & limiting it to 2 rounds in the magazine.
You can modify these dimples by using a long rat tailed file & filing off these detents inside the magazine tube. Do not try to swage them out, as you WILL deform the outside of the tube. These tubes are what the recoil spring’s friction piece slides on to make the gun function.
Model 48 Mohawk: This gun was apparently a final clean up of the 11-48 & the 48 Sportsman parts. They appeared a few years after the previous models were discontinued. They were usually found with walnut stained birch wood. Possibly distributed thru some of the mass merchandisers
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Thanks dprice3844444. I had also read that information. I also have the original manuals. One manual is for the 1148 in general and the second is like a supplement for the .410 I have version which has a few significant differences. I my be worried about nothing, but it concerns me thatt the charging handle may be different too. I am hopeful my gumsmith can tell me when he gets well. Thanks again!
 
Sounds like restoring an 1148 would be like polishing a turd. After reading about all the gun's problems, and how they rarely worked right even when new, you might want to consider putting your efforts into a better gun. The problem with working on a gun like that is that, even when all is said and done, you're still limited by the flaws of the original design. This gun is obviously severely flawed.
 
Don't believe everything you read on the internet Wardenwolf. You can read all sorts of reports on how sorry the 1100 is, but a lot of them were sold! I ran a box of shells through this 1148 before I started without a hiccup.
 
Wardenwolf, I'm suprised at your statement. I know many happy 11-48 owners. That includes those with skeet guns with impressive round counts.
 
I have to take the barrel off of mine to get the charging handle to remove. Once the barrel is off you can see the other side of the handle and should be able to give it a little pry from the opposite side. I have to pull back slightly on mine and out to remove it. The detent ball keeps it in there pretty snug.

Reliability issues with the 11-48 wow not any I have seen. I have all but the 28ga, still looking for the right one. I had to do a similar refurb on my 16ga. It looked to be in about the same shape as milkmasters 410. My 410 is still my favorite dove gun and goes out with me every year.
 
SUCCESS! Finally after soaking it for a week, I was able to remove the charging handle. I switched to "Kano Kroil" that we have at work as the penetrant. Now I plan to have a nice weekend rubbing on this old gun. I want to make sure the mechanicals are in nice shape before I start on any wood refinishing. Oily hands make for terrible wood working :)
 
Bolt out and cleaned up easy. I will say it comes apart a little different than what I am used to, but I figured it out.
 

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A little elbow work on the trigger group paid off. Now it really shines. Wear is barely detectable.
 

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Gettin' closer! As I had researched... getting the trigger group back in with the bolt stop in the right place was a bear. I will probably forget again how to do it by the next time I take her completely apart. That's whay I take so many pictures. Anyone got a good name for this gun when I am finished? Turd gun has been suggested, but I would not make that my choice.
 

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Mechanicals complete. Got it all assembled and stowed away in a gun case until the wood is ready. That brings on another entirely different challenge. Stay tuned...
 

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The wood refinishing brings on a challenge. I may need some experienced person to help me here. Look closely at the forend picture. The metal sleeve is inside the forearm for the entire length. Is it pressed in or actually glued? I would like to remove it, but I am afraid I will break the wooden forearm. I am not entirely certain which end should come out first. I tried pecking on it with a dowel rod at one end hoping it would come loose. Not so after 54 years. I would love to hear from anyone who has been successful with a similar forend.

Anyone got a sweet little procedure to get the forearm in two pieces without breaking it?
 

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